Sunday’s glorious double-header of football is actually a triple-header as before our Westfield W-League and Hyundai A-League sides swing into action at nib Stadium, our Foxtel Y-League team will kick off their new season by taking on Adelaide United at Dorrien Gardens (kick-off 10.30am).
The Y-League competition will once again feature ten clubs divided into two conferences and Glory have been placed in Conference A along with Adelaide United, Brisbane Roar, Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory.
And after the club’s youngsters acquitted themselves well in a tough PS4 NPL WA competition last season, Head Coach John Gibson has high hopes for the new campaign.
“We were super-competitive in the recent PS4 NPL,” he said, “and we were relatively pleased with a majority of the performances.
“It was a huge learning curve with many tough experiences for this young group which meant it was a great challenge.
“It was super to observe them go head-to-head with experienced players week-in and week-out in a 26-game season.
“That NPL platform, plus a strong six-week pre-season, has provided a solid base and a good lead in to the condensed Y-League competition. “We certainly look forward to starting strongly in the early rounds, particularly with our first two games being at home.”
Glory’s squad remains largely unchanged from that which competed in the NPL, although there are a handful of new additions and there will also be opportunities provided for a number of the young players from the Glory Elite Pathway who performed well in the under-20s and under-18s last season.
“Both Richard Garcia and Anthony Cochrane, in conjunction with Callum Salmon and David Butterfield, have been super with their respective squads,” explained Gibson, “and it showed with some outstanding performance from the youngsters. “We’ve also promoted a number of players in our ‘Academy Pool Players’ list for the season, which is just rewards for these players.
“It’s an express season in the Y-League and we’re looking to start strongly with a positive performance against Adelaide United on Sunday.”
One of the players who’ll be keen to impress for Glory this term is striker Bayley Brown-Montgomery.
The 19-year-old capped a memorable NPL campaign by taking out the Football West Goal of the Season for his stunning strike against Balcatta and he goes into his first NYL season hoping to help the youngsters to clinch the title.
“I was very pleased on winning Goal of the Season,” he said, “and I was also happy for Daniel Stynes to win Young Player of the Year, which was well deserved.
“On the goal itself, it was a well-worked move across the pitch, and I put together what I’d learned in training and it was good to see it hit the back of the net.”
Looking ahead, Brown-Montgomery echoed Gibson’s assertion that a good start is vital if Glory are to make an impression in their Y-League Conference.
“Every game is vital,” he said, “and we really want to win the comp, meaning we have to win every game we play to finish at the top in our conference.
“We’ve got a number of new players, have strengthened our team, worked hard and are hoping to get the three points this weekend.”
Admission to Dorrien Gardens on Sunday is free, so do get along and lend the lads your support if you can.
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